What to see and do, by train, across Europe in a week part duex

 

✍️ DAY SIX – Travel Day (Pegasus + Munich stop)

Today was a travel day, involving another experience with a budget airline I hadn’t used before — Pegasus.

To be honest, my biggest concern was not having an entry stamp in my passport. In the end, I really shouldn’t have wasted time worrying. Security and passport control were among the smoothest I’ve experienced recently, and no one even seemed to notice the missing stamp.

💡 Traveller Tip

Yesterday’s lunch, away from the tourist areas, cost me 450 TL (around €10). A coffee and dessert at the Holiday Inn cost 380 TL, and a small can of Sprite with biscuits on the flight cost 384 TL.

The lesson is simple: eat and drink away from tourist areas and hotels whenever possible — the mark-up is significant.

Beer!!! Ian Thompson, 5/5/25

Insider Augustiner Stammer, Ian Thompson, 5/5/25

Bavarian Dinner, Ian Thompson 5/5/25

I had a fantastic Bavarian dinner of sausages, sauerkraut, pretzel, and beer at Augustiner Stammhaus, one of the oldest breweries in Munich. While the building itself is not the original, this site has been associated with brewing for centuries.

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🏛 Kongresshalle (Documentation Centre)

My first stop was Kongresshalle.

The Kongresshalle (Congress Hall) in Nuremberg is one of the most striking examples of Nazi-era architecture. Built between 1935 and 1939 as part of the Nazi Party Rally Grounds, it was designed for massive party congresses but was never completed.

Inspired by the Roman Colosseum, its vast brick structure reflects the regime’s obsession with scale and permanence. Today, it houses the Documentation Centre, which presents powerful exhibitions on the history of the Nazi regime. The site remains both a warning from history and a place of reflection.

 

Inside Kongresshall, Nuremburg, Ian Thompson 7/5/25

Me at Kongresshall, Nuremburg, Ian Thompson, 7/5/25

🚶‍♂️ Zeppelin Field

Leaving Kongresshalle, I walked down the former processional road made up of over 60,000 stone slabs, aligned with Nuremberg Castle as intended by Albert Speer.

I then continued to the Zeppelin Field.

The Zeppelin Field was designed to hold up to 200,000 people and served as the stage for Nazi propaganda rallies led by Hitler. Its grandstand still stands today, partially preserved, and gives a stark sense of how architecture was used to project power and control.

 

Rally Ground Podium, Nuremburg, Ian Thompson, 7/5/25

Me at Zeppelin Fields rally Ground, Nuremburg, Ian Thompson 7/5/25

🏙 Nuremberg Old Town

From there, I walked back toward the Old Town (around 4.5–5 km).

I was genuinely surprised by how beautiful and well preserved it is. The Old Town is full of historic churches, streets, and medieval architecture.

Key sites include:

Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady)
Built in 1362, famous for its Männleinlaufen clock, which performs daily at noon.

St. Sebaldus Church
One of Nuremberg’s oldest churches, dating back to the 13th century, and heavily restored after WWII.

Frauenkirche, St Sebald, Imperial Castle, and Old Town streets

 

Part of Imperial Castle, Nuremburg, Ian Thompson,  7/5/25

Part of old city walls, Nuremburg, Ian Thompson,  7/5/25

Me at Henkersteg, Ian Thompson, 7/5/25

Clock-Old Town, Nuremburg, Ian Thompson,  7/5/25

Old Town Street, Nuremburg, Ian Thompson, 7/5/25

🏰 Kaiserburg Castle

The Kaiserburg (Imperial Castle) dominates the skyline.

It was once a residence for Holy Roman Emperors and dates back to the 11th century. While impressive, I personally found the Old Town more interesting overall.

The castle does offer excellent views and a clear sense of Nuremberg’s medieval importance.

🍺 Evening

After a few hours exploring, I stopped at a restaurant called Trodelstuben, which had a slightly dark and unusual atmosphere — but excellent food.

Sausage and beer again. At this point, I’ve reached the stage where I genuinely need vegetables.

Tomorrow is another travel day, heading somewhere known more for its natural beauty than its history.

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✍️ DAY EIGHT–NINE – Zell am See (Rest & History Connection)

I combined these two days as it made more sense logistically.

Day eight was mainly travel from Nuremberg to Zell am See in Austria.

For those unfamiliar, I am a follower of 2/506 during WWII, and Zell am See is significant as the location where Easy Company were billeted after the war. The US Army requisitioned the Grand Hotel, where soldiers stayed for almost ten years..

Zell Am See, Ian Thompson, 8/5/25

The Grand Hotel, Zell Am See, Ian Thompson, 8/5/25

🌄 Rest Stop in Austria

This stop was intentionally slower.

After nine days of travel, I needed a break. The area is quiet and extremely scenic, perfect for walking and clearing my head.

I completed a full walk around the lake (12–13 km), which was enough given my current fitness level.

📍 Kaprun – Final Assembly Site

I also visited nearby Kaprun by bus (free with local transport pass).

Kaprun is known for the “Final Assembly” photo of Easy Company after WWII.

 

Field where 'Final Assembly' photo taken 80 years later, Ian Thompson 9/5/25

Kaprun Castle, Ian Thompson, 9/5/25

3/506 Final Assembly

 

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✍️ DAY TEN – Austria to Switzerland

Today was another travel day from Zell am See to Zurich via Wörgl.

I could have taken a later train, but I was worried about missing connections, so I went early.

The journey itself was one of the highlights of the trip. The scenery through Austria was spectacular — the kind of landscape that makes you seriously consider living there.

Austrian Scenary 1, Ian Thompson, 10/5/25

 

 

Austrian Scenary 3, Ian Thompson, 10/5/25

 

Austrian Scenery 4, Ian Thompson, 10/5/25

Austrian Scenery 5, Ian Thompson, 10/5/25

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✍️ DAY ELEVEN – CERN, Geneva

The focus today was CERN, which was the main reason for visiting Geneva.

I’ve been to Geneva before and personally find it the least attractive of the major Swiss cities — expensive, crowded, and surprisingly unclean in parts compared to other Swiss cities like Zurich.

⚛ CERN Visit

CERN absolutely delivered.

The site straddles the Swiss–French border and includes both above-ground and underground facilities.

Admission is free, including guided tours, which must be booked via the CERN Wi-Fi exactly two hours before departure.

Tours are limited to around 24–25 people, so they fill quickly.

I chose the tour covering the original accelerator and the ATLAS control room.

 

CERN #1, Ian Thompson, 11/5/25

Me with Spectrometer CERN, Ian Thompson, 11/5/25

CERN, Ian Thompson, 11/5/25

Me at CERN sign, Ian Thompson, 11/5/25

I decided to not do any sightseeing after CERN as, to be honest, getting very tired as I have been trying to squeeze a lot into my short stays.

Tomorrow is my penultimate travel day when I head from Geneva to Caen to get in some last minute WW22 history before heading back to the UK.

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✍️ DAY TWELVE–THIRTEEN – France (Caen & D-Day Coast)

How I missed travelling in France and France in general, not. I have to honestly say that things went pretty smoothly for most of my trip until I crossed the border between Switzerland and into France. Would you believe it, 30 minute delay just like that. Of all my train trips so far, the longest delay has been 10 minutes! So, thankfully I still managed to make it from Paris Gare De Lyon, which is a pretty nice and modern station across town to Gare St Lazare which is another nice station about 6 km from Gare De Lyon. The problem is that things became stressful, again, at the station as it was extremely difficult to figure out, in the maze that is Gare St Lazare, just which platform I needed to go to for my train to Caen. Well, a few minutes on my phone helped with the number but it still took a good 15 minutes of wandering around aimlessly to find the train which I did with 10 minutes to spare! 

The trip to Caen was straightforward and relatively comfortable and only took 2 hours. A quick bus trip, 25 minutes, from Caen had me in Ouistreham by 4pm. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that a lot of places don’t start serving food until 6pm but I managed to find one fairly decent restaurant across from the sea front casino. For those who know D-day history, and have watched the longest day, you’ll know this as the place where 4 Commando battled the Germans. FYI, the depiction in ‘The Longest Day’ is incorrect, the actual casino was torn down by the Germans in 1942 leaving the basement and foundation where they had 4 gun mounts. I guess it was just another example of Hollywood making things up as they go.

Tuesday is/was he last actual day of the trip, I am not counting the overnight ferry back to the UK. Given my absolutely dire state of fitness, I decided it would be best to get some steps/kms in. My cunning plan was to walk from my hotel, the wonderful Ibis next to the ferry port to the Churchill ARVE display which was 6.5 km away and back taking in as many monuments as possible and, at the end, have lunch then hit the two museums in Ouistreham. I took off at 0900 and walked along the promenade, bit warm in the sun but it was a beautiful day to be honest. One thing about this stretch of the D-day beaches is that there isn’t the number of bunkers and pillboxes that you’ll find at he other beaches. The number of pillboxes and casemates on Omaha beach, for example, many of the Widerstandsnesters (from the original WN-60 to WN-74) remain. However, with regards to Sword beach WN24 remains at Luc-sur-mer and WN21 at Lion-sur-mer. There are other sites, such as WN17, that are further in land which, without a car, I couldn’t visit. They seem to include WN26 as part of Swords defences, but I was under the impression it falls under Juno (Happy to be corrected).

The following pictures with captions cover most of my walk.

 

Centaur Dozer tank in CS markings, Ian Thompson, 13/5/25

Le Matelot Statue, Ian Thompson, 13/5/25

Me with the Churchill, Ian Thompson, 13/5/25

3rd Infantry Memorial, Ian Thompson, 13/5/25

Piper Bill Millin Memorial, Ian Thompson 13/5/25

Sur Le Pas, Ian Thompson, 13/5/25

Momument a la Liberte de Lion, Ian Thompson 13/5/25

Sword Memorial, Ian Thompson 13/5/25

🏛 Museums

I visited:

• 4 Commando Museum (no photography allowed)
• Grand Bunker Museum

After my trek along the beach, it was time to do my compulsory museum tours. This time is was the 4 Commando Museum and the Grand Bunker Museum. The former is a small museum dedicated to the French Commandos known as the Kieffer brigade. It is really small but does contain a lot of artifacts including a significant number of weapons in very good condition. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed so you’ll have to check out their website (https://www.musee-4commando.fr) or take my word for it. The later was the Grand Bunker Museum. What a fantastic museum (https://museegrandbunker.com/en/) with an amazing number of artifacts on display including a landing craft right in front of the museum! This place is definitely worth the visit to Ouistreham!

 

Observation floor-Grand Bunker, Ian Thompson 13/5/25

The Grand Bunker, Ian Thompson 13/5/25

Landing Craft-Grand Bunker, Ian Thompson 13/5/25

Question for anyone who’s done a similar trip:

Which part would you have changed?

✈️ FINAL SUMMARY

• 13 days
• 6 countries (including Turkey)
• 6 major cities
• 2936 km by train
• 1610 km by air
• 183 km by ferry

Not too shabby.

😀

Normandy D-Day 75th Anniversary: Omaha Beach, Utah Beach, Sainte-Mère-Église & American Cemetery

✍️Normandy D-Day 75th Anniversary Trip

Welcome back — and apologies for the lack of recent posts.

After spending the last couple of years living in the United States, my travelling has unfortunately taken a back seat. This trip marks my first major blog entry since returning to the UK.

This visit to Normandy, France, was particularly significant as it coincided with the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings — the Allied invasion of June 6th, 1944.

What made the experience even more poignant was the presence of surviving veterans. Their numbers are now very small, most being in their mid-90s, and it is increasingly likely that future commemorations will see very few — if any — D-Day veterans still able to attend.

✈️ Travel to Normandy – Flying into Paris CDG and Driving to St-Lô

In typical fashion, my planning left a lot to be desired.

Instead of taking the ferry to Caen and travelling by train, my son Travis and I ended up flying into Paris CDG and driving over 320km to our base in St-Lô.

I had very little organised beyond simply showing up.

Fortunately, a good friend, Frances Sherr-Davino, kindly added us to her tour. Frances focuses on the 29th Infantry Division, which gave me an entirely new perspective on the invasion.

🪖 Meeting the 29th Infantry Division – Personal Connections to WWII History

It’s still slightly surreal that I ended up joining a 29th ID group.

The division was formed in 1941 and originally consisted largely of National Guard soldiers. Their first base was Fort Meade, Maryland — about 10 miles from where I grew up.

It’s strange to think that I spent time around a place so closely tied to a unit that would go on to play such a major role in D-Day.

The cost of that role was significant:

• Total casualties: 20,620
• Killed in action: 3,887
• Wounded: 15,541
• Missing: 347
• POW: 845

🌅 Omaha Beach Sunrise Ceremony – D-Day Landing Commemorations

Our first full day (June 6th) started early — very early.

We headed to Dog Sector of Omaha Beach for a sunrise ceremony commemorating the actions of the 116th Regiment, 29th ID.

Standing there as the sun rose over the beach, it’s hard not to reflect on how different the scene would have been 75 years earlier.

Omaha at sunrise

⚰️ American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer – 9,000 Graves of the Fallen

From there, we moved to the American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer.

This is where we met the veteran we would spend time with over the coming days: SSgt Leonard Jendra.

Myself and Leonard.

Leonard is an amazing man, lots of energy for someone in their mid 90's and he speaks Czech and French!

Much of the day was spent at the cemetery:

• listening to speeches from President Macron and President Trump
• watching performances by the 82nd Airborne choir and band
• and, occasionally, spotting the odd politician

But it’s impossible to ignore the real reason for being there.

Over 9,000 headstones stretch across the cemetery — a constant reminder of the cost of that day.

One of the most meaningful parts of these events is the opportunity to meet veterans.

Whenever I attend, I try to shake as many hands and have as many conversations as possible.

Without exception, they are humble, gracious, and often slightly uncomfortable with being called heroes — despite clearly being exactly that.

🪂 Sainte-Mère-Église – 82nd Airborne Drop Zone and John Steele Memorial

Day 2 was more independent.

We started at Sainte-Mère-Église, in the 82nd Airborne sector — famous for the story of John Steele, the paratrooper caught on the church steeple.

Even a day after the anniversary, the town was still busy, with ongoing ceremonies and a number of veterans still present.

🌉 La Fière Bridge – 82nd Airborne and One of the Bloodiest Small Unit Battles

From there, we travelled just outside town to La Fière Bridge over the Merderet River.

This was the site of one of the most intense small-unit battles of the campaign.

Elements of the 82nd Airborne (including the 505th PIR and 325th GIR) fought against German units including the 91st Air Landing Division.

The importance of the bridge cannot be overstated — had it fallen, the security of the beach landings could have been compromised.

Around 150 paratroopers and glider troops died here in just 24 hours.

One quote from the battle has always stuck with me:

“No better place to die.”
— 1st Lt John “Red Dog” Dolan

**Really looking forward to the upcoming Dale Dye movie about the battle!!**

Movie trailer

The first picture following is the actual bridge at La Fiere...

The next photo is of the memorial to the 82nd and 325th soldiers who took part in the battle...

The last two pictures are of the chapel shown o the aerial view above and a memorial which is located 50 yards from the chapel next to the road.

Following our visit to La Fiere we drove NW to Utah beach, stopping to visit the Major Dick Winters leadership memorial. We also managed to visit the St Come Du Mont church (see previous blog post for more details and photos) before heading to the actual beach.

🌊 Utah Beach and the Atlantic Wall – The Western D-Day Landing Sector

We spent the rest of the afternoon driving around the western portions of the D-Day areas. We drove north to the Utah Beach museum (See previous blog post for more details) then along the coast. It is amazing that, after 75 years, there are still significant remains of the 'Atlantic Wall' still visible and accessible. 

The sky was grey and ominous much as I would have imagined it to be 75 years ago.

We also visited several nearby memorials, including those dedicated to:

• US units such as the 90th Division
• the Free French forces under General Leclerc

🪖 Pathfinder Memorial and 101st Airborne Causeways

On the way back, we travelled via one of the famous causeways — key objectives for the 101st Airborne in the early hours of D-Day.

We stopped briefly at the Pathfinder memorial, marking the first US troops to land in Normandy.

🏛 St James Cemetery and Hill 203 – The Liberation of Vire

Rejoining the 29th ID group, we headed inland.

Many visitors focus only on the beaches, but there’s a huge amount of history within a short drive.

We visited St James American Cemetery, which contains over 4,000 graves. Smaller than Colleville, but no less moving. 

The group then had a quiet ceremony where Leonard laid flowers at the grave of a 29th ID MoH recipient.

After leaving St James the group travelled to Vire. The 29th ID fought in and around Vire towards the end of the Normandy Campaign (July-August). One of the key battles in the liberation of Vire was for Hill 203. The hill rises up from the river into the town and was the scene of intense fighting. The local mayor and politicians help a ceremony at the site of the battle where a memorial has been placed. The pictures below show the ceremony at the Hill 203 memorial and the view from the hill to the river which gives you an indication of the scale of the task.

I have included a map of the troop movements from mid July into August to give you an understanding of how massive the operation was and where Vire and the US 1st Army was as part of the big picture.

As usual, the French put on a fantastic effort for the vets and their families. The ceremony on Hill 203 was followed by a ceremony in the town itself, attended by close to a 1000 residents. The Mayor followed that up with a reception which included a significant amount of Calvados. :-)

⚔️ Falaise Pocket and Montormel Museum – Closing the Normandy Campaign

The final day of our long 75th anniversary of D-Day trip was centered around travelling back to Paris to fly home and get back to the realities of life. However, that didn't stop me from hitting another major area of interest. Although it is considered post Normandy and part of the breakout rather than the actual campaign it's still of such importance it deserves even a quick visit. I have included a map to show the shear scale of the operation which included American, British, Canadian and Polish troops.

What is important to note is that the terrain is key to this battle. The terrain, while not substantially high especially to the north contributed to funnelling the German 7th Army to the east. This combined with huge areas where there is very little in the way of cover meant that it was like shooting fish in a barrel. 

The following is a Wikipedia summary of the last part of the battle...

On 8 August, the Allied ground forces commander, General Bernard Montgomery, ordered the Allied armies to converge on the Falaise–Chambois area to envelop Army Group B, with the First US Army forming the southern arm, the British the base, and the Canadians the northern arm of the encirclement. The Germans began to withdraw on 17 August, and on 19 August the Allies linked up in Chambois. Gaps were forced in the Allied lines by German counter-attacks, the biggest being a corridor forced past the 1st Polish Armoured Division on Hill 262, a commanding position at the mouth of the pocket. By the evening of 21 August, the pocket had been sealed, with c. 50,000 Germans trapped inside. Many Germans escaped, but losses in men and equipment were huge. A few days later, the Allied Liberation of Paris was completed, and on 30 August the remnants of Army Group B retreated across the Seine, which ended Operation Overlord.

Museum Montormel

We had a few minutes, literally only 15, to walk through the museum. The museum itself is very small, bordering on tiny, but does give some perspective to the battle. Additionally, the views from the museum are stunning and you can imagine the carnage that took place there 75 years ago.

🧭 Final Thoughts

This was, without question, one of the most meaningful trips I’ve taken.

Even after multiple visits to Normandy, there is always something new to discover — new stories, new locations, and new people. All in all, this was a fantastic experience! I have been to Normandy many times and I am finding new things to see every time and I always meet some fantastic people.

❓ Question

For those interested in WWII history:

Would you focus on the beaches themselves, or spend more time exploring the lesser-known inland battle sites?

🙏 Acknowledgement

My sincere thanks to Frances Sherr-Davino and the 29th ID group for allowing us to join them. The experience wouldn’t have been the same without you.